Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Finny is a wonderful novel about a young girl named Finny Short. We first meet her as a smart-alecky 14 year old. She has a pretty typical life with an overbearing mother who is obsessed with manners & what other people think, and a father who doesn't talk as much as he walks around spouting off not-so-famous quotes. Overall, she seems pretty bored with her life.

Then she meets some neighbors Earl Henckel and and his eccentric father, a piano teacher. She and Earl fall in love and she spends more and more time with Mr. Henckel as well. He becomes a father figure to Finny. Then, just as quickly as it began, her relationship with Earl is torn apart. Finny is sent to boarding school in Boston. Finny gets paired with a outgoing, popular girl named Judith. They become quick friends and get into all sorts of mischief together.

The novel follows Finny and her relationships with all of these people and more over the next 20 years. I found it to be very real, and I related to Finny in many ways. I actually found myself crying at some parts and laughing out loud at others.

A note to my local readers: Twenty-nine-year old (making me feel just a smidge old and unaccomplished!) Justin Kramon graduated from Swarthmore College and currently lives in Philadelphia.

I rated the book 4/5 stars. It's a great novel, I definitely recommend it! I received an advance copy, but Finny will be available online and in bookstores in July 2010.

Now, on to the giveaway! I am giving away my copy of Finny to one of my readers!

Rules: This giveaway is only open to residents of the continental US. Enter to win by Wednesday, May 26, 2010. Winner will be randomly chosen. Please include your email address in your comment!

You have three chances to win!

1. Leave a comment with the title of your favorite book or a good book you just read.

2. Friend me on Good Reads, so we can chat books! (I receive no compensation or perks from Good Reads, I just like their website. And books.) Leave a comment that you did so.

3. Tweet this giveaway and leave a comment with a link to your tweet.

Disclosure: I won an advance copy of this book Good Reads as part of their First Reads program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

I was recently selected to host a "MyGetTogether" via the General Mills Psst program. This is a great program and I have gotten to try some great free products! Crescent rolls, of course, are not new to me, and I do love them.

My original plan was to host a New Moon movie night with some girlfriends. BUT, I accidentally overscheduled myself and had to cancel.

Teacher appreciation week at Dash's school was the next week, so I used my crescent roll loot (they provided me with several free product coupons) to make some snacks for his teachers instead! I made...

Yum. Please go make these. Seriously. I probably could have eaten about half a batch myself! (I had to taste test everything, hello?) I could not find shredded swiss at Walmart, so I just got some slices and cut it up. Turned out fine. I wasn't paying attention to the directions, and mixed everything together. Still turned out fine. Clearly, it's hard to mess these up! I did follow one important tip that someone left in the review section of the recipe: After you roll them up, put in the refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes to firm up. They are much easier to cut this way.

I subbed peanut butter chips and pecans for the vanilla chips and cashews, and I left out the almonds. Ok, but not great. The crescent roll crust just didn't do it for me. I was worried about the crust getting too crispy, so I didn't pre-bake the crust. Even with that, it was a little overdone for my taste. I've made something like this before called Almost Candy Bars, and they are awesome. The cake mix makes a better crust, and it's not as terribly sweet as you may think.

Disclosure: Pillsbury provided me with free product coupons, a cash card for extra ingredients, as well as aprons, cookbooks, andcoupons to give away (which I did). I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

You may remember this post where I told you we got a fancy new camera. Well, here's where I admit that I'm afraid of that dang thing. It's big. And expensive. I'm clumsy. Put all those together... I'm pretty sure you get the picture.

I hinted to Mr. Incredible that I sure could use a new (little) point and shoot camera. Voila! Look at this beauty that Dash bought me! I took some pictures over the weekend, and I'll get them up soon. Much better than my Blackberry pics. Thanks to my guys I have a great new camera!

Yes, he likes to sleep with his hockey gloves. And, sometimes his stick. Note the mismatched PJs that he changed after I put him to bed!

Ok, seasoned moms. I need help.

Every night when we put Dash to bed, he gets up a few minutes later. He mostly stays in his room. This is not the problem.

Sometimes he completely changes his PJs for no apparent reason. This is an annoying laundry problem, but I can deal with it.

Most of the time, he sneaks out of bed and into the bathroom for one last potty run (even though we just went potty 10 minutes ago). Problem is, he still wears diapers to bed. (I'm so over pull-ups, the kid just pees to much at night.) So, he takes the diaper off, goes potty, and then changes back into underwear. Underwear!

He can be very sneaky--sometimes we don't even hear him. So, I have to check his heiney every night before I go to bed to make sure he doesn't have underwear on.

I don't want to discourage him from wearing underwear, but I also don't want to be up at 2 a.m. every night changing PJs and sheets. Also, he has only ever woken himself up once in the middle of the night to go potty. So, I don't think he's quite at the underwear-though-the-night stage.

So, do we limit liquids before bed? Have you done this? How much is too much? Do I let him change into the underwear and wet the bed. Maybe he will learn after a few times?

Monday, May 3, 2010

Lexi Solomon is a single mom trying to keep it all together and give her daughter a good life. Her drug-dealing husband, Grant, left them years ago. Her father checked out mentally when her sister was murdered. Her mother is off traveling and they don't see eye to eye. Her sister's murderer, Norman, is up for parole. And, now a creepy old aquaintance (Ward, who insists on being called Warden) is back demanding payment for Grant's debts that she can't even begin to imagine repaying.

It seems as if Lexi's world is starting to crumble. All at once, Ward, Grant, Norman, and her mother come back into her life. A chain of events has been set off, and Lexi feels her life spinning out of control. Her grip on reality seems to be slipping too.

This book was good, but not great. It's well written with some good plot lines, but it can be confusing at times, particularly for a non-Christian. The battle between good and evil was just a little off to me (This Present Darkness and The Screwtape Lettersare great for this). I was never sure who or what was real. Maybe that was the point, but it was confusing all the same.

The novel has a wonderful message of love and forgiveness. Lexi has let bitterness consume her, and Angelo (a kind new friend who always seems to be in the right place at the right time) urges her to repair her broken relationships and forgive. He also tells her to "Choose love, it will save you even now." I guess my issue is that there is an underlying theme of salvation. Love does not equal Salvation. Yes, it's part of it, but JESUS equals Salvation.
Overall it was a good read, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars.

Now, on to the giveaway! I am giving away my copy of Never Let You Go to one of my readers!

Rules: This giveaway is only open to residents of the continental US. Enter to win by Monday, May 10, 2010. Winner will be randomly chosen. Please include your email address!

You have three chances to win!

1. Leave a comment with the title of your favorite book or a good book you just read.

2. Friend me on Good Reads, so we can chat books! (I receive no compensation or perks from Good Reads, I just like their website. And books.) Leave a comment that you did so.

3. Tweet this giveaway and leave a comment with a link to your tweet.

Disclosure: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.